Obama and Romney: Where they stand on Syria

Syria's conflict is the most violent to emerge from last year's Arab Spring. The protests started peacefully but prompted a brutal crackdown by President Bashar Assad's government. The fighting has escalated into a civil war that has killed more than 30,000 people during the last year and a half, according to activists. Despite intervening in Libya, the United States has steered clear of taking military action or arming Syria's rebels.

The Arab world's efforts to achieve stable democracies could hinge on Syria. Demonstrators ended dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt, a U.S.-led mission helped defeat Moammar Gadhafi in Libya and a transition deal brought change to Yemen. But the four-decade-long Assad government has dug in. It is accused of torture and mass killings. And if it succeeds in keeping power, reform-wary leaders across the region could take it as a lesson that they can attack their own citizens and get away with it.

Syria's close alliance with Iran is important. Assad has facilitated Iran's assistance to militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, destabilizing Lebanon while threatening Israel's security and American interests in the Middle East. The U.S. accuses Iran of managing Syria's repression to prop up its faltering ally. With Washington and Tehran competing for influence in the Arab world, change toward a more U.S.-friendly government in Syria would be a major strategic victory. Up to now, the only governments ousted in the Arab Spring were either U.S. allies or counterterrorism partners.

For Obama, Assad's perseverance also poses a credibility problem. The president has demanded that Assad leave but has ruled out several elements of American power to make that happen. He has limited the repercussions on Assad mainly to tighter U.S. sanctions and harsher rhetoric. For Romney, however, Syria offers no easy solution. The presence of al-Qaida-linked fighters and other extremists in the opposition makes members of both parties uneasy about offering greater U.S. aid. And no one wants greater instability on Israel's up-to-now secure northeastern border.